Nico Returns

The end of this month will see the release of a new double set collection of Nico's work entitled The Frozen Borderline. The collection will contain her two finest album's The Marble Index and Desertshore along with 17 unreleased alternate takes. I first heard these two astonishing albums when I was a teenager and I had never before, or since, been as transformed by recorded sound. These records opened my musical tastes completely and albums I would later hear like Pere Ubu's Dub Housing or Don Cherry's Symphony For Improvisers made sense in a way to me that they wouldn't have if I hadn't been exposed to Nico's music. I trace my openness to all kinds of music, no matter how extreme or far out, to hearing these two works by Nico.
The albums were both recorded with John Cale and several years ago he called them, 'an important contribution to European classical music'. Anyone who hasn't heard these magnificent works should do themselves a big favor and pre-order this set.
The Velvet Underground produced three of the most important solo careers of the rock era in Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico. These two albums by Nico are the equal to Cale and Reed's best, and you can't get much better than that.